Meeting of the Parliament 11 December 2013
There is a long way to go and there will be many difficult decisions still to make and no doubt a number of setbacks along the way, too. However, I think that last week’s autumn statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer showed that, if we have a plan and a clear focus, and if we stick to it in difficult times and in good times, we get results.
The autumn statement had a positive story to tell about the overall economic picture. It had robust policies to help jobs and the economy more widely, and it was fiscally neutral to ensure responsible recovery so that we do not squander the hard-earned gains of the past couple of years.
Let us look first at growth, because growth has returned. At the time of the budget in March, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted growth for 2013 of 0.6 per cent; last week, the OBR upgraded that to 1.4 per cent for this year. The OBR also said in March that there would be growth of 1.8 per cent next year; now it says that there will be growth of 2.4 per cent. On top of that, the OBR predicted solid growth for 2015, 2016 and 2017—the largest improvement to any forecast seen in this country for 14 years. Our economy is now growing faster than any other major economy in the industrialised world, apart from that of the United States of America.